Thursday, 1 September 2011

Music...and British radio

Oh my! What a day. I haven't done much writing (composed two haiku though) but...BUT...
I found out who composed Elizabethan Serenade: Ronald Binge.

Thanks to Google I found he also composed Sailing By. This piece of music is always played on Radio 4 before the shipping forecast at 00:50. They play various length bits of it, sometimes all of it, depending on how much time there is to fill after Book of the Week has ended.

I imagine sailors round the coast of Britian with their radios on, doing whatever sailors do and then hearing this music and racing to the radio to hear what the weather has in store for them. Maybe a storm is coming. Maybe the storm they're battling is going to pass. I'm usually snuggled under my duvet and thankful to be warm and cosy.

The other thing I think is wonderful is after the shipping forecast and before the National Anthem (which indicates the end of Radio 4 broadcasting and hand-over to the BBC World Service), the newsreader always says goodnight. They've even been known to say 'Good night and if you're about to sleep, sleep tight'. I love it! :D